School Gear Price Shenanigans: How To Avoid The Trap

DD1 (almost 7 years old) and I were online shopping for her new backpack this morning. Let me tell you that this has been a process. She is very picky and between me vetoing (No, you can’t get a white backpack) and her fussiness, we have spent literally hours looking at backpacks in store and online. Today, I will share with you my experience with School Gear Price Shenanigans: How To Avoid The Trap.

Find your item

We FINALLY found one that we could agree on while scrolling the 60% off eBags sale. It’s this super cute Dickies brand Mandala print with all of her favorite colors. I looked at the price: $24.99. Not bad. I don’t know the quality of these backpacks, but at least the price was good and it was marked down from a $40 retail price. It was also marked as “No additional discounts can be applied” – meaning this was the rock-bottom price that eBags could offer it for. So despite their offer of an additional 20% off with code PENCIL this would be $24.99 + shipping.

Check Amazon

Not one to miss out on a chance to use my Prime membership, I checked the Amazon price. It was sold by a 3rd party vendor for $30.32. I try to avoid 3rd party vendors unless they have a super high rating. But this price was higher, so I moved on. I could have been lulled into a false sense of security in purchasing from eBags, seeing the price at Amazon being higher, but persistence is key.

Check the Brand’s Site

I decided to check the Brand’s site next. Since it’s Dickie’s brand, I typed that into my trusty Google Chrome browser. And there it was. On sale for $19.99 PLUS an additional 25% Off. So when I added it to my cart, I was shocked to see it in there for $14.99. A full $10 less than the price that I *thought* was really great.

(I had to spend $4.01 more to get free shipping so I added a tee for $8 – Otherwise the shipping was $7.99)

Google

Last ditch effort should always be to Google your item. Copy the exact name from the website that you are looking at so that you have the Brand name, item name, and potentially the color name. You will get Google Shopping results and can pinpoint the obvious good prices.

Obviously, I went with the Dickie’s price. I got the backpack + a cute tee for under $24.  I will put a cute applique on the backpack and she will look so stylish and smart on her first day of 2nd grade.This whole process of price checking took me less than 10 minutes and saved me $10, so I call that a win. If you want help finding the best price on your backpack, feel free to message me on Facebook .

For more Back to School deals and advice, please check out my Facebook page and all of the deals that get posted daily.

*This post contains affiliate links. By making a purchase through Mama’s link, you get a great deal and MamaSavesALot gets a small percentage commission from the seller. Win/Win.